The Celestial Fruit
by theloneisland
Summary: There's more to Persephone Thorne than what meets the eye; a semi reformed bad girl, reluctant hunter with blood as alluring as the forbidden fruit and it is rumoured that one taste will send any vampire to their death that has earned her the title of 'The Celestial Fruit'. Returning to Mystic Falls after months away, Persephone finds herself facing danger at every turn.
1. Chapter 1

Someone, somewhere once said that home was where the heart is but for Persephone Thorne, she was certain that was the biggest crock of shit she had ever heard. Mystic Falls was the last place on this god damn planet that she had ever wanted to return to, so clearly heart didn't belong here. It had been home to Persephone once but that seemed like several life times ago, these days all Mystic Falls did was serve as a reminder of everything that she had lost.

Persephone had never planned on returning home town, this small town in Virginia only held painful memories but fate or destiny, whatever you wanted to call it had other plans. Pretty much forces beyond Persephone's control had made it damn near impossible for her not to return to Mystic Falls and now here she was. Back in the one place Persephone swore that she would never return. It wasn't fair. None of this was this fair in the slightest.

Pigs must be flying somewhere.

That was funny.

Kind of.

Persephone couldn't help but think to herself as after all that could be true. She was well aware that humans weren't alone in this world. There were things in this world that went beyond being mortal, herself included. There were things beyond any reasonable person's imagination that lurked in the darkness of the shadow. The unimaginable existed in a realm that existed beyond those of works of fictions. So pigs could actually be flying somewhere, you never really knew.

But that was the least of Persephone's worries. At least for now. Her biggest concern was trying to reintegrate herself back into the world she once used to belong.

Although that was easier said than done.

It seemed like forever since Persephone had last been here. Yet, as Persephone stood in the empty hallway of Mystic Falls High School, she had to remind herself that it hadn't quite been forever. Just a rather long and drawn out four and a half months. It was a small amount of time and yet it felt like forever to Persephone. Maybe it's because so much had happened in the last few months since she was last here? Persephone wasn't quite certain. The only thing that Persephone was certain of in her rather young life was that it was now time to face the music. After disappearing in a rather loud and dark cloud of smoke, Persephone had returned home to confront everything that she had been running from these last few months.

By the looks of it, nothing had really seemed to have changed which was to be expected of course. In small towns like Mystic Falls, pretty much everything stayed the same unless there was a reason to change it, which of course there was never a reason to do so. Persephone was certain that Mystic Falls High looked this way in her grandparents day, and probably smelt the same. The school still smelt of lemon pine floor cleaner mixed in with a faint odour of sweaty gym socks and whatever aftershave and perfumes were currently doing the rounds with the student body.

It was rather nostalgic in a way.

Yet Persephone was nervous. As in palms sweating, heart feels like it's going to leap out of her chest nervous which was odd for her. Once upon a time, Persephone heard Carol Lockwood describe her as a 'charmingly reckless girl with nerves of steel'. Persephone Larsen didn't do nervous. But as Persephone had to remind herself, she wasn't Persephone Hagen any more. That girl had disappeared a long time ago and in her stead was Persephone Thorne. Not quite the same girl with a different name, more like a different girl under a slightly different name.

Persephone wasn't the person she used to be when she left Mystic Falls, to be honest she didn't really know who she was any more. Persephone Thorne lost all sense of who she was in the few months that had led up to her fleeing from Mystic Falls to parts unknown.

Back before she had pulled a houdidi act Persephone was a mess, a walking car crash in every sense of the word but with the term 'Wild Child' slapped across her forehead for good measure. You name it and Persephone had done it; drinking, drugs, sleeping around and that was barely even the start of it, her repertoire included petty crimes and vandalism along with full on blown tantrums which included screaming, crying and breaking things. Persephone hadn't always been like that, once upon a time she had been one of those typical and wholesome girls, one of those next door types but then she had gone to the dark side and made the whole teenaged rebellion thing look like a picnic.

That was life for Persephone for a few of months, until one day Persephone had packed her bags and fled from town without a word to anyone as at the time she needed to escape from this small town life and her purpose in it. Persephone wanted to be free so she ran away and yet a few months later here she was, back to face everything she had ran away from.

It seemed like forever since Persephone had last been here, and yet forever seemed to have passed by rather quickly. Techinally it hadn't been forever, only four months and yet it still felt like a lifetime ago that Persephone had been a regular school girl. Or at least resembled once. Since deep down, Persephone knew that she had never been normal. From the day she was born she had been marked as a Seeker. _A defender of mankind._ Her! The sixteen year old teenager with a peculiar name and hair that had seen pretty much every single colour of the rainbow. She was supposed to 'seek out' the darkness that lurked in the shadows. _Vampires, witches, werewolves, and ghosts just to name a few._ It sounded like a bunch of made up nonsense but Persephone knew the truth, after running from it for so long and coming across many unexplainable things during her time away, she could no longer deny who she was.

 _A Celestial Fruit._

That's what the shadows called Seekers because of their unique scent, their blood was said to be as alluring as the forbidden fruit itself and one taste of a celestial fruit was like a like a taste of heaven. It sounded stupid and yet it was enough for Persephone to come home.

For a while now, Persephone had been having this strange and reoccurring dream which started not too long after she had found out the painful truth about herself. The most troubling part of this dream was that someone she knew very well was a constant figure in it. _Elena Gilbert._ In her dreams Persephone kept seeing her friend being attacked by all these creatures that hid in the shadows. All Persephone kept seeing was darkness and destruction. They all seemed to be drawn to Elena and Persephone couldn't understand why. It was why Persephone had come home.

Her dreams kept getting increasingly more violent and in-depth, it was too much for Persephone to bare so she had come home to try and get some answers that would lead to her piece of mind and she was certain that those answers could lie with Elena.

Yet, it wasn't going to be that simple. Persephone knew that she couldn't waltz back into her friends life like nothing had happened. A lot of things had changed since Persephone had left Mystic Falls, herself included. So that meant reintegrating herself back to Elena's life. Hence Persephone coming home and getting re-enrolled at Mystic Falls High School. Even though Persephone was doing all of this for the sake of her sanity, nerves were still eating at her stomach as she slowly made her way to her first class of the day. The meeting with the guidance counsellor had run over by a lot, and so Persephone very much late on her first day back.

Not a good sign!

And yet, Persephone didn't feel the need to hurry to her class. Since she was already late, Persephone might as well take her time. It's not like her 11th grade history class was going anywhere. Dragging her feet rather slowly, Persephone felt a vibration in the back of her jeans pocket and pulling out her cell phone from said pocket, Persephone couldn't help but smile as she read the caller id. Old Man Thorne.

"Hey dad!" Persephone greeted in a warm manner as she answered the call from her father, currently he was the only person that she would give any time of day to.

"Hi Seph, how's Mystic Falls?"

"Still standing unfortunately but it's the same old hell hole ." Persephone replied with a sigh as this was really was the last place she wanted to be. She would have preferred to be any other place on this planet but Persephone didn't really have any choice in the matter. If she wanted any real answers to her strange dreams or why she was some kind of supernatural 'seeker' than Persephone had to stay her.

"Sephy, you don't have to do this… You can come back home and we can figure this out together." Kip began as Persephone rolled her eyes in response as she could see where this conversation was going; to say he father was best pleased when he found out his only child was part of some secret supernatural faction that protected humans from dark creatures, was a bit on an understatement.

He wasn't too pleased either when Persephone announced that she was going home. Kip Thorne, just like his daughter believed that if Persephone stayed away from Mystic Falls, away from this so called family business than she could be normal like everyone else.

But Persephone couldn't be normal, she had tried running and the running just brought her back here. She couldn't be like her father, he was normal as Persephone like to describe him, Kip Thorne was a pretty normal Joe except for the fact that he had married a woman who came from a rather bizarre bloodline, which dealt with supernatural entities or somethings. Persephone unfortunately didn't inherit her father's normalness. She only received his auburn hair and button nose.

"You know I can't do that dad. I had to come back to Mystic Falls… These dreams started here and they have only seemed to get worse, the longer I have been away. Fate. Destiny, whichever one it is that's screwing with my life wants me to be here and if I ever want to have a normal night's sleep again I have to stay here and see this whole thing through. Elena could be the key to all of this, but if not… I can't pretend that I haven't had these dreams. I can't ignore the fact that she could be in danger." Persephone grimly replied as she hadn't just decided to come back to Mystic Falls on the spur of the moment.

For months she had been having these strange dreams about Elena and Mystic Falls, dreams that weren't normal and that involved some mysterious figure. Persephone never saw the figure's face in her dreams as he was always covered in darkness but she knew he was a man. This figure was always going after Elena, chasing after her like some animal. Sometimes he would kill her, sometimes he wouldn't. All Persephone knew was that she had been having dreams for the last few months and she hadn't had a good night's sleep since she first started having these dreams.

"What does your mother have to say about this?" Kip questioned, his dismay over the whole situation coming through over the phone and Persephone couldn't help but snort in response.

"Plenty of course, she's convinced these animal attacks are something else entirely… But what does it matter what Nora thinks? She can't do anything about this even if she wanted to, she was lucky enough to have this burden skip over a couple of generations including herself. This all falls on me. It's the joys of being a Celestial Fruit. I have to find whoever is behind all of this before they find me." Persephone retorted as came to a stop about a couple of feet before her history class.

It was showtime.

The time had finally come for Persephone Thorne to resume her old life.

"Persephone? Are you still there?"

"Yeah dad, I have to go to class now but I'll give you a call later…" Persephone wearily said as she looked to the door, where she could see some of her former classmates sitting down and intently listening to whatever their history teacher was lecturing them on this time.

It was like nothing had changed

"You don't sound good Seph…"

"Dad, I got this. I will call you later. Love you." Persephone briskly replied, ending the call even before her father could say anything and quickly replacing her phone back in her jeans pocket. She would call her father back later and ease his justifiable concerns but right now she needed to get off the phone and focus what was going on in front of her.

Persephone needed to reintegrate herself back to her old friend's lives if she was to find out what was going on, why she was apparent born to be some protector, why she was having these odd dreams and why a lot of this revolved around Elena. There had to be some meaning to all of this and Persephone wanted to find out the answers for herself. Her mother had told her things but Persephone wasn't one for believing much of what her dear old mother Nora Hagen had to say these days. There was something about her being lied to for 15 years that made her rather distrustful of her mother.

Hence why Persephone was doing this on her own. Taking a deep breath and forcing a bright smile Persephone willed herself not to screw this up before she slowly started taking a few steps towards the door and pushed it open.

Straight away heads turned and as Persephone walked into the classroom, which didn't surprise her as Persephone Thorne turning up after being awol for four months was sure to draw some attention. A tiny part of Persephone was rather pleased to see that her classmates clearly hadn't forgotten her, specially Elena who Persephone spotted straight away, alongside another old friend Bonnie Bennett. Persephone would have offered them both a small wave but their history teacher who was towering off them all with a displeased look on his face, was the first obstacle that Persephone had to deal with. Good old Mr. Tanner, he seemed to be as unhappy to see her always.

"Hey Mr. Tanner! So sorry I am late." Persephone began, trying to sound as apologetic as she could but it was kind of hard to as she was trying to stop herself from laughing.

"Oh look who it is… Persephone Hagen, how nice of you to finally join us but I'm afraid class has already started and you know how I feel about tardiness. So it's off to the office for you. " Mr. Tanner began and Persephone couldn't help but smile as she ha d missed his condensing attitude towards everyone he encountered during the time that she had been away.

"Well we could do that Mr. Tanner but then I would have to get my mother involved and we don't really want to do that now, do we? You remember her, right? Nora Hagen, more money than she knows what to do with and owns half the town. Also happens to have Mayor Lockwood on speed dial. And before you say any thing Mr. Tanner, I do know how crass it is to use nepotism to my advantage but I'm sixteen. What the hell do I care?" Persephone retorted, her response rolling easily off the tongue as she was well versed in getting drawn into these verbal tongue lashing by her history teacher, or getting 'Tannered' as most people referred to it as.

Given the amount of trouble Persephone used to get into because of Tanner, she was well verse in holding her own. Judging by the annoyed look on his face, Persephone was certain that the two of them knew that she had won this round. Although Tanner would find a way to make her pay for it later, some way and somehow.

"Take a seat Miss Hagen."

"Thanks, oh by the way Tanner… It's not Hagen any more, I've taken my father's last name. So it's now Miss Thorne to you Mr. Tanner!" Persephone brightly stated as she strolled further into the classroom, making her way over t the vacant chair in the far left back.

It seemed like it was going to be easy for Persephone to fall back into her old life but then she couldn't help but come to a stop in her step as this sensation came over her. It was like Persephone's skin was crawling and she felt very much uneasy and then came the smell. The overbearing smell that told Persephone that something was very much wrong here. It wasn't a kind of smell that most people would pick up on but Persephone could and it smelled like death. A pungent odour of rotting flesh tinted with the smell of copper. It was overwhelming. A cold and heavy smell.

It was death.

"Is there a problem Miss Thorne?"

Persephone ignored Mr. Tanner in favour of trying to locate the smell, it wasn't right in front of her but the smell was coming from within this classroom. It was coming off someone in here. Definitely not Tanner, Persephone would recognise his overpowering aftershave any where. This smell was coming off one of Persephone's fellow students.

Her feet began moving on her own accord, following the scent and much to Persephone's dismay, the smell got stronger as she got closer to the culprit. It wasn't pleasant and Persephone could feel her the contents of her stomach churning as the deathly smell continued to overpower her. Eventually she found the culprit.

It was a boy. Devastatingly handsome of course, with his light brown hair and green eyes that seemed endless. He wore a stern expression but his features were soft and flawless. Yet the more Persephone looked at him, she knew that there was something about him that was off, he wasn't normal. There was something inside Persephone that was screaming at her, screaming that this man was dangerous. Persephone knew of only one thing that could possibly smell like this. He was a vampire… That's why Persephone could smell death when she walked into the classroom. The boy in front of her was a vampire.

"Miss Thorne!"

Persephone was brought back to reality by Tanner yelling out her name. He really didn't sound too happy. Not that she cared too moment. The vampire sitting right in front of her was more important. Persephone knew that her mother suspected that vampires were back in Mystic Falls, given the town's secret history with them, it wasn't too far of a stretch given all the animal attacks. But Persephone never believed that they would be so out in the open.

"Whose the stooge?" Persephone demanded, forgoing all niceties as she had been taken slightly a back. She wasn't expecting a vampire to be sitting in her classroom in the middle of the day, blending in with the other students and not looking a single bit out of place.

This really wasn't good.

"Of course, still more concerned with socialising then your studies Miss Thorne… Allow me to introduce you to our new student Stefan Salvatore."

The new student was a vampire? God have mercy on them all.


	2. Chapter 2

This was not how things were meant to have been. When Persephone had decided to come back to Mystic Falls, she had pretty much planned out every possible scenario in her head. Everything from dealing with her mother, to worming her way back into her friends lives and dealing with her mysterious dreams had been perfectly thought out. Persephone however, did not anticipate running into a vampire so soon into her homecoming! She wasn't stupid. Persephone was well aware that was some kind of supernatural force at play here, those weird dreams of hers involving Elena pretty much screamed supernatural. At yet, Persephone had been somewhat been naive to think that she would have a little down time to get herself settled before she got dragged into whatever madness was going here.

Apparently not.

She was barely listening to what Mr. Tanner said, Persephone's mind was too full of the thoughts of all things vampire. She hadn't anticipated a vampire being so brazenly out in the open and now Persephone was going to wait and see what happened to assess how this would effect her plans. Given that at this current moment she was burning holes into the back of her new classmate who just so happened to be a vampire. Stefan Salvatore. The name rung a bell. It took Persephone about twenty minutes to place where she knew Stefan's name from but them it came to her, his last name Salvatore. It was one in the same as one of the founding families of Mystic Falls. Was it a coincidence? Probably not as Persephone didn't believe in coincidence, only dumb luck and this certainly wasn't that. There was something more to this than what met the eye.

Persephone would never admit this out loud but she was rather intrigued as she had never seen a day walking vampire, although she knew it was possible. At first glance Stefan seemed like your every day run of the mill teenager albeit with devastatingly good looks but it was his scent that gave it all away. The cold rotting flesh smell that was tinged with the slightest hint of copper had given it away to Persephone. Stefan was a vampire and yet he was here sitting in her history class as if nothing was amiss. Like he belonged there! However it did leave her a bit startled at the same time. This Stefan Salvatore character had wormed his way in without any one batting an eyelid… But then again everyone else was living in ignorant bliss as to what was really out there.

Persephone had come home to deal with her own problems, not deal with whatever vampire problem might be going on here in Mystic Falls. But then Persephone couldn't help but pause and back track in her thoughts. Could this all be related? Stefan wasn't here prior to her leaving town. She was certain of that, she would have remembered him. Stefan had the kind of face that no woman would ever forget! Could all those dreams that Persephone had been having over the last months be due to there being a vampires being back in Mystic Falls? It was plausible but then how was Elena involved in all of this?

Persephone couldn't help but let out a groan, all of this excessive thinking was giving her one major headache. Not to mention Tanner's monotone voice sprouting off information that Persephone already knew.

The moment the bell went, Persephone knew it was time. From the moment she stepped outside this class was when her work really began in terms of integrating herself back into her friends like and she supposed her old life. Mystic Falls had been her home once and once upon a time Persephone had been happy here. Things were different now and Persephone wasn't the same person she was once, but maybe somewhere deep down her old self was lurking around somewhere?

Who knew? The only thing that Persephone was really certain of was that the time for running was over. She was home and it was time to avoid the music. Her friends would have questions and Persephone knew she would have to answer them, but not with the truth. A heavily censored version of the truth.

Gathering her things together, Persephone was slow and deliberate as she made her way out of class, willing herself not to screw this up as she only had one shot at this. There was no do over, no rewinding this until she got it right. It was pretty much now or never. Her eyes caught sight of targets and she could see them both waiting outside for her: Bonnie Bennett and Elena Gilbert. The two of them were pretty much unchanged since the last time that Persephone had seen them, although that seemed like forever ago. But one thing that had changed was the vampire that was lurking around beside them. Stefan Salvatore wasn't around last time Persephone was home.

"In case you hadn't realised from my dramatic entrance earlier, guess whose back in town bitches?" Persephone greeted plastering a bright smile on her face and waving her hands in a rather dramatic fashion. Persephone could tell by the looks on Bonnie and Elena's faces that they were still completely surprised to see her which didn't surprise Persephone in the slightest. When she left town, she completely dropped off the grid, There was no contact in the slightest, not one phone call, text, email, letter or even a postcard.

When Persephone Thorne ran away from her problems she did it real good, when she fled town she completely dropped off the grid. At the time Persephone wanted nothing to do with any part of her former life so she cut off all ties.

So she was kind of expecting a little bit of a frost reception but before Persephone knew it Bonnie had leaped towards her and wrapped her arms tightly around her and Persephone hugged her old friend back. It had been a while and a small part of Persephone had to admit that it had been a pretty lonely few months. These people had meant everything to her once upon a time and it was good to see them even if Persephone knew that she couldn't afford to get attached to them again.

"Persephone! I saw your mom last week, she didn't say anything about you coming back." Bonnie stated and Persephone just casually shrugged her shoulders and continued to act in a rather nonchalant manner. As bad as this sound, they needed to believe that their old friend Persephone was back and not somebody else.

"Well to be fair, Nora didn't even know that I was coming back home until about three days ago."

"I can't believe that you're here and you look–" Bonnie began after she pulled away from Persephone.

"–Normal? Considering the last time I was home I was sporting bright pink hair and getting into all kinds of trouble with people who shall remain nameless?" Persephone asked with a wicked smile as she recalled her last few days in Mystic what little she could remember of that time, those days had been pretty eventful in the lead up to her departure. She had come back from some three day bender and dragged her sorry ass to school before picking up her bag and walking out of school during 5th period. Two hours later Persephone had left Mystic Falls with her bags packed.

Now Persephone was back, her hair was back to it's original auburn colour and she was hanging out with a lot different company these days and the drinking and drugs had come to a stop.

"Yeah something like that…" Bonnie replied with a chuckle and Persephone couldn't help but glance over at Elena. The infamous Elena who seemed to be connected to all the weird dreams that Persephone was having. She was yet to say anything and Persephone was rather curious as to what she thought about her return

"Hi Elena."

"Hey Persephone." Elena warmly greeted and Persephone now knew that she was past the hardest part of all of this, now she just had to keep faking it to make sure no one suspected anything.

As far as anyone here was to know, Persephone Thorne, formally Persephone Hagen was returning to Mystic Falls after leaving town for several months to clean up her act. The cover story that had been fed to them all was that Persephone had been sent to St. Agatha's school for girls in Oregon. That was the biggest load of shit that Persephone had ever heard, sure she had been troubled and there is no way in hell that any kind of reform school would take on someone like her and managed to straighten her out. Persephone knew that she was beyond saving.

"So whose the friend? Didn't think you could hide him away?" Persephone asked nodding her head in the direction of Stefan, it was clear to her know that he wasn't lurking around her friends but rather standing with them.

It looked Elena and Bonnie had made a new friend in her absence.

"Persephone I'd like you to meet Stefan Salvatore, he's new in town…" Elena began, making the introduction. "Stefan I would like you to meet an old friend of ours Persephone–"

"–The pleasure is all mine." Persephone interrupted before Elena had a chance to finish the introductions, taking a few steps forward and getting as close to Stefan as she possible could. It wasn't out of politeness or even friendliness. There was a point to this. Persephone knew that Stefan was a vampire, she had picked up his scent but she wanted to confirm it another way. But that meant getting up close and person.

Everything had a scent. Every creature or species had it's own unique scent. Humans had one, it was a bit of a hard one to describe but they did have one, Persephpne was convinced thier scent was talc powder. Vampires smelt like death for obvious reasons and then there was Persephone. She too had a scent. The scent of a Seeker; peaches. Given that Persephone could detect Stefan's own scent, she was certain that if he was indeed not human and a vampire as she was pretty much dead certain of, he would be able to catch her scent. But Persephone needed to get close enough for him to pick it out without mistaking it for some kind of perfume. Hence the invasion of his personal space.

"Like wise." Stefan replied and Persephone could only watch in glee as Stefan awkwardly turned his face away from her.

He had caught her scent.

"So whose up for bailing on next period and doing something fun?" Persephone questioned, stepping away from Stefan and turning her attention back to her friends.

She would deal with the vampire in a bit, but before that Persephone needed to gather some intelligence first and she doubted that Stefan would be so forthcoming with the information that she needed. So instead Persephone would get what she needed from her friends under the guise of a long and very much over due gossip session. It was killing two birds with one stones. Persephone could catch up what had happened in her absence and as well as snoop around into Stefan's story.

"You're going to skip next period?" Bonnie questioned in disbelief and Persephone could only laugh in amusement. It was like nothing had changed in the slightest.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"Seph… You just got back to town." Elena pointed out.

"Exactly, all the more reason for me to do it! Look my mom may have sent me away to a reform school for a few months, but I didn't get a lobotomy. A few things may have changed on the outside with me but I'm still me and I live by rule that skipping class occasionally is good for the soul." Persephone replied with a casual shrug of her shoulder but the look her friends gave her suggested that they weren't really into her plan. This wasn't too surprising as neither girls used to cut class with Persephone back in the good old days.

"I don't know Persephone."

"It's your loss then! If you change your mind you guys know where to find me." Persephone responded with a small quip, giving her friends a small wave before walking off.

Just because her two friends and their vampire buddy didn't want to come with her, it didn't mean that Persephone wasn't going to pass up the chance to blow off some team. Coming back to the last place on earth she wanted to return to in order to face her demons was going to really push Persephone to her limits and she needed to pace herself. So ditching one or two classes today wasn't the end of the world. If anything, it was allowing Persephone to take some well needed me time, or at least that was the excuse she was going to toss out to her mother when Nora found out about it.

But that was a problem for later! For now, Persephone would focus on what was happening here and now in front of her and as she weaved her way through all the students making their way to the next class of the day, she couldn't help but laugh. Life hadn't been this simple the last time she was in Mystic Falls. Everything back then had been so damn complicated and whilst it was a lot more complicated now, the small stuff like school seemed so irrelevant.

Sliding into the girls bathroom, Persephone let out a low whistle as she went about checking that all of the stalls were empty as she had some reading to catch up on and she needed some privacy to do that. As the research she needed to do wasn't exactly school approved. Once she was certain the the coast was clear, Persephone dug into her backpack and pulled out a a rather worn leather bound journal. Her mother called it a 'Celestial record' a diary per say, belonging to one of their kind. Whatever that meant. Apparently it was supposed to hold some of the answers to all the million questions that Persephone had and since she was back home to get answers, she figured she should hit the books as well. Running away from the truth had gotten her nowhere before, Persephone was hoping that facing her fears may change that.

"Persephone?"

At the sound of her name, Persephone turned around to see Elena of all people which was a bit of a surprise given that Persephone had left her outside with Bonnie and their new vampire friend. Maybe that joke about how things in Mystic Falls never changed had come to an end? Vampires were back in Mystic Falls, Persephone was back in Mystic Falls, pigs were possibly flying somewhere and maybe things were finally changing here once and for all.

"Change your mind about skipping?" Persephone asked, a smile forming on her face as she quickly set about putting the journal back into her backpack without drawing any attention to it.

Elena shook her head. "No, but I needed to ask you something."

"Shoot. I have nothing but time."

"Why didn't you call Persephone? You didn't call or write, there was just nothing Persephone. It was like you vanished off the face of the earth and none of us mattered an any more, we had to find out from your mom that you went to some reform school. All that time you were away there was just nothing…" Elena said and Persephone couldn't help but grimace as she knew that this conversation was inevitable given the extent and length of her Houdini act and people would naturally want answers but Persephone didn't expect for it to come so soon.

All her plans that she had spent weeks going over weren't exactly going to plan.

Of course nobody was not going to say anything about it, pretend like Persephone hadn't cut them out of her life for the better part of 7 months and come home and pretend like nothing had happened. People wanted answers, it was only natural but Persephone knew that she couldn't tell them the truth.

"I know."

"I needed you Seph." Elena quietly said and Persephone felt a terrible pang of guilt in her chest as she was reminded that Elena was more than just a person who was haunting her dreams, she was a person and mostly importantly she had been Persephone's friend who had suffered a devastating loss. Persephone could still remember her father waking her up in the early hours of the morning after getting a phone call from his ex wife and Persephone's mother, to tell her that there had been an accident in Mystic Falls, that Elena's parents car went of Wickery Bridge and how Dr and Mrs Gilbert had drowned whilst Elena had somehow managed to escape from the car and survive the accident. It was a tragedy, Elena's whole life had been turned upside down and Persephone didn't get in contact.

Her father had sent flowers on their behalf but Persephone couldn't bring herself to get in touch with Elena to express her condolences and check on one of her oldest friends. It wasn't Persephone's finest moment, she felt bad about it, honestly she did. But things were so complicated, Persephone was so mad and full of rage about her life at the time and a huge part of her anger was dictated towards Elena, as for some reason their lives were tied together though all these dreams. Persephone was rather resentful for that even though she knew deep down it wasn't Elena's fault, Elena hadn't asked for any of this just like Persephone hadn't asked to be born a Seeker.

"I'm sorry, I really am Elena and there is nothing I can say that can excuse that, I know should have got in touch to let you all know that I was okay but I couldn't. Things were really bad for me Elena, you remember what I was like before I left? I was spiralling out of control."

"It wasn't that bad."

"Yeah it was and you know… But there was a lot of things going on with me that I couldn't tell you guys." Persephone began with some hesitation as she was venturing into territory that very much resembled the real truth. But then again, didn't they say that they best lies were always based on the truth.

"What do you mean Seph? What was going on?"

"I was never sent to a reform school. That was just the excuse my parents used to cover up what happened to me… In reality I had a nervous breakdown, or rather a major depressive episode. I found out something and it broke me Elena, in every sense of the word. My head was running wild and I couldn't sleep and it was how things started getting out of control. I started having these dreams every night and then I was convinced that I was seeing things whilst I was awake. I was convinced that I was losing my mind so I did everything to lessen it, all the drinking and partying…. I was such a mess and in such a bad place that I needed to get out of town for a while, I needed a clean break from everyone for a while just so I could get myself together and before I knew it two months had passed and by then I still didn't know what to say and it just seemed easier not to get in contact." Persephone said in a apologetic manner as there was a big part of her that actually meant it as she did feel bad for about what happened.

Looking back on how she used to be, those days when she was spiralling out of control just made Persephone cringe as she had been so lost and had been asked to do something that she was too young and naïve to do. Back then Persephone had been so confused with so much anger in heart but not any more, the Persephone who came back to Mystic Falls was a far cry from her former self. There was still some anger and darkness in her heart but Persephone felt stronger than she had ever known herself to be, more confident and for once there was some clarity for herself. There was no more confusion as Persephone knew what she needed to do. In order for her to go forward she needed to confront everything that she had been running from.

"Seph… Why didn't you say anything to us?" Elena questioned with a soft expression on her face and Persephone had to swallow a small lump in her throat.

"Because I was ashamed of it. I'm Seph. I'm Persephone. I am supposed to be the wild and fun one in our group who has all the answers. I can't really have all the answers for you guys if I'm falling apart." Persephone allowed herself to admit out loud for the first time ever.

It wasn't easy to say all of that out loud and it oddly made Persephone feel oddly exposed and naked in an emotional way. She shuffled around on her feet awkwardly and then much to Persephone's surprise, Elena came over and enveloped her into a comforting hug.

"It seems like there is a lot of things that we need to catch each other up op." Elena began and Persephone nodded in a grim manner as that was pretty much the understatement of the year. The amount of secrets that were lurking over them all was immense. "I'm having this dinner at my house for Stefan and Bonnie to get to know each other better and I think you should come Seph. Bonnie's coming over before hand and I think it would be good for the three of us to talk and hang out. It'll be like the old times… Then you can also get to know Stefan as well."

Dinner with the vampire? Now that sounded interesting and Persephone couldn't help but let out a broad smile.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."


End file.
